Humiliation is a rather young band from Malaysia but so far theyâve already released one EP âFace the Disasterâ in 2009 which was almost followed instantly by the release of their debut âDawn of Warfareâ in 2010 on Nebiula Production, a local label.

Humiliationâs only vocation is to play Death Metal, the Old School way. With the rise of Death Metal revivalists in the past three to four years, there is nothing really outstanding in playing âagainâ Death Metal the way it was done in the early 90s but to Humiliationâs credits while 90% of the bands out there try to reproduce either Incantation or Autopsy or famous Swedish legends, theyâve tried to focus on something altogether different.

Every track on Dawn of Warfare deals with war: Warts of War, Mustard Gas, Minefields, etc. Taken this lyrical orientation, I was thinking that Humiliation would somehow try to be some Bolt Thrower's copycat. Although certainly the guys in Humiliation have listened quite a few times to the British legends, their sound could be summarized as being a mix between Asphyx and early Death.

The production is very reminiscent of the early 90s and all the tracks come in nicely and smoothly. Still to make this a great record, some added "madness" and "fury" would have been welcome because it almost feels like school homework. The formula is perfectly done and reproduced on all ten tracks and nothing really stands out except for the intro and outro. Musically we remain in a sphere of mid-tempo riffing with very seldom accelerations. My guess is that the drummer may be a bit technically limited and his scope is too narrow and classical. Mind my words, the guy doesnât suck but he brings in too little variety and seems unable to blast-beat most times which consequently kind of restrains the other musicians. Other musicians who play their part scholarly but conscientiously along with the singer's whose growl is reminiscent of Chris Reifert.

In the end, Dawn of Warfare is a nice record with no apparent flaws but a nice record is not a great record and youâll find yourself thinking you may have heard some unreleased Asphyx rehearsal material. Not too memorable. On the other hand, Malaysia is not Florida when it comes to Death Metal and judging by the potential of these guys and their eagerness to set a firm foot in the international scene, give or take a few years for them to grow rapidly if they can insert some more âDeathâ in their Death Metal.